Cohasset Planning Board Continues South Main Street Driveway Hearing, Seeks Screening Plan

COHASSET — April 15, 2026 — Cohasset Planning Board continues South Main Street common driveway and scenic road hearings to May 6, citing unresolved screening and tree mitigation details. The board, meeting via Zoom with four of its five members present, heard from engineer Gregory Morse of Morse Engineering Co., Inc., representing applicant Stephen Bjorklund, who is seeking approval for a 455-foot shared private driveway serving three new house lots off South Main Street, a designated scenic road. Town peer-review engineer Pat Brennan of PGB Engineering confirmed the project would reduce impervious runoff toward the street but recommended upgrading the asphalt binder thickness to two inches for a driveway handling three households and fire apparatus. Abutter Dana Eagles of 391 South Main Street presented a 45-slide analysis raising concerns about headlight glare, utility pole stability, and a tree inventory he said was missing roughly 12 existing trees in the public right-of-way. Bjorklund committed to an evergreen screening plan along the shared boundary and agreed to consult the tree warden on native-species mitigation for the removal of one 20-inch Norway maple, with Clerk Birgit Schmidt-Wesche noting the area-based bylaw formula would require six replacement trees, not the two originally proposed. The board voted 4-0 to continue both hearings, with a final vote contingent on a full five-member board and a revised planting plan in hand by May 6.